U.D.O released his new EP called 24/7 which was something he did while he was out on tour with his old band Accept. But now it’s time for Udo and the guys to release their new album which is a follow up to their last album THUNDERBALL. Udo, with his distinctive voice, is highly regarded by the metal fans worldwide and the expectations of his new album have been great.

MISSION NO. X was ready to be released already before the summer reunion with Accept but Udo felt it was better to wait till the fall to release the CD. Stefan the guitarist in U.D.O is both producer and the former drummer in Accept so in today’s line up of U.D.O we find two former Accept member. The band went through member changes when Lorenzo on drums left and was replaced by Francesco Jovino instead.

If I have done my math correctly this should be U.D.O’s 10th studio album since the debut ANIMAL HOUSE in 1988. MISSION NO. X is produced by Stefan of course, and he put the focus on the heavy and varied guitar play along with U.D.O’s very personal voice. The album clocks in on 50 minutes and 11 tracks.

The bands main problem has been the shifting quality of the material, but on this album it feels pretty solid but Udo shouldn’t sing ballads “Eye Of The Eagle” and “Cry Soldier Cry”. Udo doesn’t have a “ballad voice” and should stick to heavy metal songs. U.D.O don’t inject anything new into the German heavy metal scene but if you, like me, are a huge Accept fan you have to love it anyway, much of the charm with U.D.O is that you know what you’re going to get.

The label have cut down the songs with 20-40 seconds and have featured two songs twice, “24/7” and “Mean Streets” are first featured in full length and then they comes again but then cut down, why?. That’s really annoying and it gives you a hard time giving a fair judgement.

Once again delivers U.D.O well played German heavy metal of high quality and competent musicians. U.D.O sounds great as usual and I can imagine that every fan of U.D.O as well as Accept is NOT going to be disappointed with MISSION NO. X. The next thing for U.D.O now is to head out on a European tour that starts in January 2006.